Photos are here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/7MMkKuc996pE1mRi8

Before The Start:  My 48^th race of 2026 was the 5^th race of e-Dragon Summer Series 5Ks, held on Sunday, August 16.  This was my second event of the weekend after having done the Dragon’s Den 5K on August 15^th at the upper Pearsall Park area, VERY hilly 5K that included off-road trails and paved greenway trails. The event the day before this one had a half marathon; a 10K; and a 5K, so there were significantly more particitpants than at Sunday’s event.  Iaap results for this last Summer Series 5K show a total of  

The Summer Series 5Ks are a series of 5 races held at various San Antonio parks with the courses being on the paved Greenway trails.  If participants complete all 5 races, then after finishing the 5^th race, they receive a very nice Series medal that holds all the ‘finisher coins” received for each race.  I did not participatete in one of the 5 races so did not qualify to get that Series Finisher medal, which is okay; I enjoyed the ones I did participate in. The Summer Series events raise funds for the San Antonio Running Scholarship. I arrived at the park with just under an hour go until start time, got my packet, and then got some pre-start photos.  This was a smaller event than the one I did the day before this one, as the only event was the 5K. Results from iaap, which did the timing, show a total of 110 participants for this one. After arrival, I got my packet and then got a few pre-start photos.  This is also a dog-friendly event so I handed out a few treats to the dogs there.

 On The Course: We started right on time.  The National Anthem was played and then we all got going. After that VERY hilly 5K at Pearsall Park the day before this one, my legs felt happy that this course was mostly pretty flat with just a couple of uphill and downhill inclines, but nothing you could really call a major hill, thankfully. The course was a simple out-and-back.  I did my usual thing of 8-minutes-running/2-minutes walking, and took a few on-course photos during my walk breaks.  After making the turn-round, I then pretty much ran almost non-stop to the finish, with just some very short quickie stops to get a few more “quickie stops” to get a few more on-course photos, and for the last mile I pretty much ran non-stop.  I ended up 3^rd, in my age group, with a chip time of 46:05 averaging 14:50 per mile; much better than my 5K the day before, with all those steep hills that had me walking more and endiing with a time of 52:56.  The age group award is a printed certificates which has a code on it that can be used for a discount when registering for for a future e-Dragon event, nice.

After My Finish: I got a few photos of some other participants coming into the finish and photos of other finishers. After that I did a short cool-down walk and then went to the tent of my friend Gilbert whom I often see at races I do.  He always has a nice setup for participants, with various fruits available, as well as water, and he always offers me a chair to sit in and relax for a bit before I out again to get some more post-race photos.  Gilbert is a class-act-guy, very supportive of the local running community. He is also a cyclist, and the distances he rides sometimes amazes me.  

Epilogue: As usual for e-Dragon – owned by my friends Kristine and Erik Burciaga – this is a well done event, and a really nice medal for all who did all 5 of the Summer Series 5Ks. Also, by the way, some of the Burciaga children are runners too. They may be small and young but, dang, they usually pass me by like I’m standing still and are way ahead of me on the course, lol. Sometimes they take a walk break, and I get ahead of them, but not for very long; shoot, even their little daughter was passing me by, lol.  I think all these kids are going to eventually end up with running scholarships.

Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants:  my friend, Johnny, who was helping set up, and also directed me to a parking lot that was closer to the start/finish area; the Burciaga family, of course, who put on all these events; iaap that did the timiing and results for us; the official photographers there for us, taking some before, on-course, and after-photos; the law enforcement and EMT folks there for us; the ladies who did race-day packet pickup for us – including my friend Stephanie who is usally in a year a volunteer for more races than I complete; all the sponsors/vendors that supported this event and series; our MC, Anthony, who did his usual great job for us; and anyone else involvled I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all!   Next up for me:  my appointment with my do to find out about my 5^th bout of cancer I will be dealing with, and then my biopsy appointment after that. I’m not sure how this will affect my running life – have to wait for the biopsy results – but from what my Dermatologist doc told me, I should be able to stay pretty active, which would be a blessing.  Whatever your passion is, may you always enjoy it and may you have much success at it and always stay safe doing it!    If you are a fellow race participant and see me at an event, give me a shout-out. I’d be happy to get a photo with you.